Customer Reviews

Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop

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I have been a student and admirer of Frankie Manning's ever since my first dance lesson with him almost ten years ago. Frankie is a legendary dancer, an innovator and pioneer in the dance form called "Lindy Hop" that started in the Jazz Age in the streets of Harlem and continues to this day in clubs, schools and dancehalls all over the world.

I've been hearing Frankie tell his inspiring stories for a long time now, but never with this rich detail and the larger historical context provided by Ms. Millman to back them up.

From his days as a child at rent parties to the heyday of the Savoy Ballroom to performing internationally with the dance troupe Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, you follow the exciting growth of a young dancer. Then we follow Frankie into the war years and his dropping out of the swing world for several decades. Fortunately in the 1980s, Frankie is coaxed out of retirement and continues to do this day to teach and inspire others about this wonderful dance.

Throughout it all, you cannot help but be touched by Frankie's grace, style and humor in navigating tumultuous, often racially-charged situations. I want to be Frankie when I grow up.

A great read for anyone interested in African-american history, dance, or jazz.

I had the honor of working with Cynthia on editing the manuscript while it was still being formed. You can't even begin to imagine the work, years, love and passion she put has into it...but it shows on every page (painstaking revision after revision after revision to get it just right).

As many times as I have heard Frankie's stories in person, it was still a revelation to read the manuscript..And each re-read it just got better! The book provides chronological insights and the complete story of Frankie's many experiences on and off the dance floor (and yes, in the air!). It's a behind the scene look at a legendary life. It is a must read for swing dancers and a great read for every body else. I can't wait to read it again in bound copy and see all the great photos!!!! Hooray for Cynthia and Frankie!!!!

Call me enthusiastic, but this is Frankie's story in his own words, therefore it's great.

I just received my copy yesterday, and have been dipping into it slowly, savoring a man - and a spirit - that is to be treasured.

Frankie himself is amazing for his ability to have been fully himself, and to have made his life's most powerful work be the expression of who he is through his art form, the dance.

Yes, it's a treasure-trove of wonderful stories, at which Frankie is a master. And, the value of story-telling is the insights it gives on what it is to be fully human.

I got to know Frankie in London and Sweden, and being able to sit and listen to him is, as Mickey Davidson says, the profound pleasure of sitting at the feet of the Elders. There is much wisdom in this man, as well as much fun. He has, as all great artists do, brought that wisdom, and his soul, into his work. He has, thereby, touched hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of people, dancers and non-dancers.

It looks like Ms. Millman largely made the wise choice to let his words and his story take front and center. If you've heard him tell stories before, you can hear his voice - and his infectious laugh - come through the pages. This book is worth reading for anyone interested in knowing what decency and grace people are truly capable of, no matter what people around them are doing.

If I have a gripe, it is that the end of the book (which talks about the resurgence of Lindy and Frankie in the '80s) does not truly do justice to how profound as well as international Frankie's reach has been. By simply being who he is and doing what he loves and does best, Frankie has been kept increasingly busy traveling around the world - to Australia, Japan, eastern as well as western Europe, throughout Asia - asked to share what he does and what he knows. There's no big celebrity machine grinding out PR and Marketing on him to set up these trips - dancers see or hear about him, are touched in some way by him, and want to know more about what he knows. So they call him up, and ask him to come to an event, and if he has time, you're in his schedule, solid. It's a simple process based on trust - he trusts you to do what you say, and you can count on it that he'll do what he's said.

The picture on page 192 of Frankie dancing with Norma is worth the price of the book in itself, for having captured on Frankie's face the sheer joy that comes from connecting to the music, your partner, your body's capabilities for expressing all that words are inadequate for. Thank you, Cynthia, for getting him out there at long last.

I was fortunate to have met Frankie twice before I read the book. This gave me the face and voice to put the words to. As I read, it was as if Frankie was there talking to me with all the wit , humor and charm he has in person. Frankie's excitement in telling his stories makes you wish you could have been there with him. Frankie does a wonderful job of taking you through his life experiences in a way that you just can't put the book down.
For me the book is about much more than dancing Lindy Hop. It's about how to live your life which is finding your passion and becoming the best, not to become famous or rich, but because it gives you purpose and that gives others inspiration. Thanks for putting Frankie's life into words. He is someone I wish my kids, grand kids and all future generations could have met. I hope this book soon becomes a movie so all the world can once again see Frankie Manning on the dance floor.

This is a quick read (I finished in a week) of one of the last living founders of Lindy Hop and creator of the famous air step in Lindy Hop swing dancing. Unlike most autobiographies, this book is concise and very well written. Among milestones of Manning's career include how he came up with the air step and its first introduction, a very long and successful professional career as a dancer, the end of the swing era, and its revival in the 1980s and 1990s. Credit is given to all those involved as many names and pictures are found throughout book. Whether you were there or not, this is a captivating travel back in time to relive a dazzling piece of American culture, the Lindy Hop and the man that helped shape it.

Like all the reviewers here have said, Mannnig is a wonder, a joy, a world treasure. His role in the primary American cultural movement of the 20th century, popular Jazz of the 1930's and 40's, is still yet to be fully appreciated, this book will hopefully go far towards that end.
As the leader of Whitey's Lindy Hopper (as has been said by author Millman, his title would be that of Artistic Creator today) he was the creative vision and force of a dance company that, indeed, served as ambassodor of that cultural movement around the world. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers animated the mesmerizing vitality of the music, simultanesouly thrilling audiences and inspiring the musicians themselves.
May yet Frankie and the Lindy Hoppers be recognized for what they were, the progenitors of popular mass youth culture. From Bandstand to the Lockers, to Soul Train, to breakdancing and all of Hip Hop movement, think of all the change and impact in the world that modern youth culture has brought, not just in music and dance but, fashion, sexuality, politics to globaliziation. Every aspect of modern civilization, really. And, Frankie Manning was the creative genuis who helped put in all in motion. Get the book, celebrate the man, and go out and dance.

If you have not had the chance to meet Frankie in person this is a great way to get to know the man who many swing dancers as myself has grown to love and admire. In person you would not see a 93 year young man but someone who is full of life! He always greets you with a smile and has a beautiful sense of humor. I have learned so much from him and admire him for being an example of how to live a full and wonderful life!

It's definetly a book I recommend for you to read even if you are not a swing dancer. And if you aren't one when you start reading the book, I won't be surprised if you start taking swing dance lessons after reading the book!

Actually I wanted to go out yesterday, but Frankie's book really kept me reading and reading and reading on. It's fascinating and interesting and what I liked most is the way it is written, it's just as if Frankie would sit opposite to you and would tell his stories, like in Herräng or others places I had the opportunity to listen to him, Norma and others. And of course, the humour and love for life and dance, if you know Frankie, you'll recognize him at once, if you don't, you'll wish to get to know him. It's a book every modern lindy hopper should read, also in order to know the origins of the dance, to prevent the dance to drift away from what it once was and to get it back to joie de vivre, competitiveness and creativity!

I ordered and have already read my copy of Frankie's book.

I think it's fantastic -- not only because it's Frankie's life story; not only because it's a fantastic historical view of American Vernacular dance, black history, race relations AND lindy hop itself, but also because it is very well put-together, well-cited and bibliographied, and Cynthia does a great job of getting herself out of the way and letting Frankie tell his stories his way.

I highly recommend this book.

Having heard Frankie talk at various dance camps, and having interviewed him once, I thought that there wasn't going to be much more to know when I started reading this.

Boy was I wrong!

To have experienced half of the things Frankie has would be more than enough for most people in a lifetime. I just couldn't put it down once I started reading, and finally finished a 4am.

The brief diversions for facts about dance and music through the book are also great to help a non dancer to understand some of the background of the dance that Frankie helped make into an international sensation.

Fantastic!!